Of Sirens and Other Sea Creatures
by Kyava
Summary: Tides are always changing, the ocean rises and falls. All it takes is a single pull into its waves, a single commanded of the moon, and a person's life can be flipped upside down. It's just too bad no one told Zane and Will that. And underneath it all the monsters of the deep are waiting. They are ready to make there debut.


RIKKI

You know the feeling you get when everything is going fantastic? The sun is shining, the water is blue, you are swimming along just loving life.

Then out of nowhere a shark tries to takes a bite out of your tail fin.

Yeah, I didn't know the feeling ether. Until it nearly happened.

Bubbles covered my vision as I screamed. The large Mako shark dived under my flailing tail, harsh skin scrapping against it, and came back up at me again from below. Jaw gaping the animal lunged, crocked teeth gnashing down at the spot I just flinched away from.

I flipped out of his return path, nicking myself on a segment of coral as I curled my body around in an arch, and shot off towards the underwater entrance to the moon pool, throwing sand up in my wake.

In the murky water I could just make out the frenzied shapes of other fish, and a set of large shadows raced along beside me in my peripheral, tunneling me in from all sides. Sharp currents in the water jerked me to and fro as another shark tried to lung in for a bite, getting a smack in the face from my tail for its effort.

I reached my hands out in front of me as I sprinted away and it was only because of that that I avoided smashing my face into a rock wall of Mako island. I shifted sideways to swim alongside it, ducking under another large shadow to get out of the shark whirlpool they created, my belly brushing up against the algae covered stone.

Just ahead of me, coming out of the opening leading to the moon pool, I saw a long thin figure emerge and nearly panicked and turned another direction, before I noticed two thin arms attached to the silhouette. Bella.

With a grunt that shot more bubbles into my eyes, I raced across the space between Bella and me, sharks on my tail (_ha-ha literally. Ha-ha not funny why am I giggling in my head?_), and slammed into Bella, wrapping my arms around her torso. With my momentum I shoved the two of us into the cave and up towards the moon pool, my tail numb with exhaustion.

Our heads broke free with a shower of water, the sound of my heavy breathing echoing in the chamber.

"Rikki what-"

"No time," I wheezed, grabbing Bella's arm and dragging her and myself towards the end of the pool and on top of the ledge. "Just get out of the water!"

It's not every day I'm telling one of my friends to get _out_ of the water rather than _in. _A fact which must have occurred to Bella as well because with a quick flicker of her own tail she was quickly beside me, dragging herself onto dray land.

Just as her caudal fin left the water a dark shape came swimming up under the surface.

"Is that a _shark," _Bella gasped jerking further away from the pool. This shark was smaller than the first one that attacked me-obviously, no way that goliath was fitting through the cave- but still the sight of seeing those sharp fins and glimmering teeth was enough to send shivers up my spine, after what had almost happened.

"No its a goldfish," I said, still trying to breathe through the pain in my lungs. Bella shot me a wide eyed glare and I rolled my eyes. "yeah it's a shark. One of many that just decided I looked like an appetizing breakfast."

"That doesn't sound right," Bella muttered holding out her hand over her tail. Along her shimmering golden scales water began to gather together and solidify into gel. With a slight tensing of her fingers, all of the water along her upper body and hair began to hardened as well until, with a blue light, she was sitting fully clothed on the sand, legs spread out before her. She wiped the gel away with practiced ease before standing.

"Yeah I know," I replied, too tired to dry myself off. I just laid down on my back across the sand. "If I had to choose how I'd go, I think devoured by sharks would be the last thing on my list."

"No, I mean that doesn't sound right in how they were acting," Bella said, shuffling away from the pool. "Most sharks are nighttime predators. They usually aren't this active at eleven in the morning. Plus, did you see how aggressive that thing was? We've been coming to this island for over a year-for you and Cloe over three-and the shark population decides to get territorial now all of a sudden?"

"You think it has something to do with whoever is fixed the moon pool?" I asked. After Sophie ended up destroying a large chunk of this place, Bella, Cleo and I agreed we'd come here when we could to fix it up. Try to make it what it once was again. Our first time back after graduation however, we found that someone has already beat us to it. And not only was the moon pool cleaned up, it looked like it was never destroyed in the first place. Stones that were cracked down the middle didn't even have a dent in them now.

Bella shrugged, rubbing at a bright red mark on her wrist. "Could be?" She muttered. "Maybe the jellyfish that stung me two days ago was affected the same way that the sharks were."

"Or maybe you just aggravated the jellyfish," I shot back grinning. Bella, ever the mermaid princess, wouldn't ever admit she made a mistake when dealing with anything ocean related. I think she secretly liked to pretend she was best friends with all of the sea animals like she was Ariel or something.

"Oh and you didn't aggravate the shark?" Bella smiled back. I thought for a moment.

"No actually," I said. At least I didn't think so. "I... thought I saw her again. The shark jumped me when I was trying to get closer."

Bella went quite at that. "Oh," she finally said, staring down at my tail.

A few days after we found the moon pool restored, I was out swimming near the north side of the island when I caught sight of another mermaid in the distance. At first I thought it was Cleo or Bella, but it wasn't until I got closer that I realized the figure's nearly florescent white skin didn't match ether of my friends. Before I could make contact with her though, the mermaid saw me and bolted.

Cleo thought it might be another land resident, given the same gift as us thanks to the moon pool. But I wasn't too sure. Something about the mermaid seemed... too wild. At ease in the ocean in a way I could only dream of being.

Bella agreed with my theory, and the thought of an underwater civilization-with real actual mermaids to go along with it-has kept us up late discussing the possibilities and searching for the elusive figure.

Bella's gasp jerked me from my thoughts, "Rikki-your hurt," Bella said, kneeling beside me and pointing at my side. I followed her finger towards the splatter of red crawling up my side, and when I touched it I jumped at the pain. Yep, that's going to bruise.

"Most have happened when I was dodging the shark," I shrugged, sitting up and finally calling up my powers to dry my tail out. Having a tail on land is amazing. Tail on land? Made me feel like a beached whale. "I think I remember hitting some of the coral pretty hard. Trust, me, this is nothing to what it almost was."

Bella frowned over at me, hands twitching before sighing and standing back up. I followed her up a second later.

"Well that means we are _definitely _not going back in there," she said, waving at the pool. "Think Lewis will come get us if we call?"

I shook my head, "he better not. He and Cleo are off at that nerdy research thingy for the university. For the program Cloe is applying for? They won't be back until the party tonight. Will?"

"He'd come, but his boat is busted," Bella said, "Something about the engine that he's been trying to fix," she fiddled with a bracelet on her wrist for a second, biting her lip, and I knew before she even spoke what she was going to say. "Zane?"

I scoffed, "no."

Bella stared at me, eyebrows creased. "Really? But you invited him to the party..."

"Yea, a _party,_" I emphasized, crossing my arms, "with mutual friends. To hang out in a group-nothing more nothing less."

"Really, cause from the way you were talking about it I figured..."

"_If _Zane Bennett and I get back together, and that's a big _if_, we are doing it because he decided to grow up and stop being such a pig," I huffed, though even I'd have to admit there was a smile on my face. "Not because he came and saved me from some island and I owed him."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Oh he would," I replied, rolling my eyes and making my way over towards the land entrance. I eyed the narrow tunnel distastefully. It's been a while since I've had to go up this way. "Besides we still have one person who would be happy to come," I added, looking over at Bella, reaching into my pocket to pull out my cell. "Emma."

BELLA

Emma pulled up twenty minutes later, throwing water boots at us from where we were sitting on the beach. How she didn't get wet on the way here was a mystery to me, since last time Cleo or Rikki told me, she was a mermaid too, but I wasn't complaining.

"Thanks again Emma," I told the girl as I shoved one of my feet in the boots, the red plastic shoe nearly too big for me. Rikki already had hers on and was wadding the short distance in the surf towards Emma, flip flops held in one hand.

"Don't mention it," Emma called back, general stern expression still on her face. I still don't know how I feel about Emma. On one hand she was friends with Cleo, Rikki, and Lewis; on the other, she was just so... serious. And responsible. Talking to her was like talking to my mom. All-important topics and with a tone that made me feel like I was ten. I also couldn't help the jealousy that kept creeping up whenever her and the others recollected old times. I know it was petty, but I can't help but feel like an outsider sitting there listening to them.

"So what's going on with the sharks?" Emma asked as Rikki and I settled into the boat, close to the center to avoid any unwanted splashes.

"Don't know, just not liking us today," Rikki said, voice as easy going as usual. I'm pretty sure she could talk about the end of the world with that same tone of voice, all _what can you do? _breezy attitude. It was one of her two emotions that she showed other people. That an anger.

I saw more than that though, rising out the moon pool with the shark behind us. The expression on her face was more than just anger or careless spunk, it was terror. Pure freaked out adrenaline pumping fright. It was because of her expression more than anything else that convinced me we shouldn't be going back to the ocean today.

Emma caught my eyes as we started for home, probably reading between the lines as well, and I shrugged at her silent question, wishing I could offer more but not wanting to offend Rikki by saying something I shouldn't. She's been... more snarky ever since the break-up. Even Emma coming home hasn't improved her mood as much as the rest of us had hoped.

"You going to ever come join us for a swim?" Rikki asked, the rumbled of the engine below us. I threw my head back, basking in the feel of the wind in my face and the sun. Nothing can ever beat swimming with a tail, but it was nice to change it up. Replace the rush of water with gentle air; the wet hair curling around my face for the soft tickle of dry bangs in my eyes.

"Can't today," Emma said, "the party is still on for tonight right?"

"Yep," Rikki said, lounging back. "We can always ditch the boys and go for a swim instead?"

"Not on the full moon," Emma muttered, and I couldn't help the soft smile that hit my lips. Emma was strict and all, but even I'd have to admit had she been around this last year, she probably would have kept us out of a lot more trouble.

"Whatever mom," Rikki sighed, slumping down more into her seat. "We'll just party it up like boring normal people then."

The party it turns out, was anything but boring.

We decided, since his sister was off on some work thing, we'd host it at Will's boathouse, and Cleo and I spent most of the afternoon getting the decorations set up (Rikki would argue that she was helping too but sitting around and telling us something is crocked didn't count as help in Cleo's mind). It wasn't until nearly everything was set and empty bowls were placed on the table waiting for snacks that Will actually showed up.

"Look who decided to come after the work has been done," Rikki called from her throne on the couch. Cleo shot her a glare but chose not to comment. "And at your own home too."

Will gave her a bashful smile, rubbing the back of his head before giving me a hug and a quick peak on the lips, "sorry guys, I had something come up that I had to deal with, but I brought snacks!" He tossed the grocery bags at an unsuspecting Cleo, who gave a little yelp as she juggled to catch them all causing Rikki to laugh, before he shot me a look, "I need to talk about something."

_Um, okay. Bad sign. _I thought even as I nodded my head. I was confident in our relationship, we were in love, so it can't be about that. _Can it? _ Maybe it had something to do with his sister again. _Right?_

Will opened his mouth to say something, right as the door behind him swung open, nearly smacking him from behind.

"The party is here!" Lewis cheered, arms full of plates of cookies and dips. Emma came behind him carrying chips.

"Oh what did you bring?" Cleo asked, smiling over at her boyfriend. He smiled back, eyes going dopey. Behind him, Emma cleared her throat and pushed Lewis out of the door way after the two stared at each other a second to long.

"_He _didn't bring anything," Emma said, throwing a disarming smile over at the boy as he spluttered, "but he did help me carry this all in. I made mom's fish salsa." What that was I didn't have a clue, but going off of Rikki's cheer I assumed it was a good thing? I fidgeted in my corner, smiling when Will noticed and threw an arm around my shoulders.

"So what were you going to tell me?" I asked him, as everyone else got the food set up.

Will winced, his hand briefly tightening on my shoulder before dropping it. "I'm going to start diving again," he said. "For competition."

"What?!" I yelped, taking a step back. "But you hated competing!"

Over at the table Emma perked up. "I didn't know you were a diver," she said, not even looking as she swatted Lewis hand away from a cookie.

Will shrugged face turning red, and I noticed with annoyance he was trying not to look at me. "Yeah, I stopped a while ago. But Southern Cross reached out yesterday, offering me a full ride if I join their diving team."

"That's great!" Emma cheered. I wanted to hit her.

"Yeah, great," I muttered, staring at Will. His sister was manipulation personified. If she wanted him to go to this program, she would have done everything in her power to make it happen, and Will would be completely ignorant to it. "Southern Cross is further away from Bond."

Will winced. After graduation I started CNA school and he started working as a diving tour guide to raise money. Our plan was to apply to Bond University next year together. "I haven't decided anything yet," he said, rubbing at my wrist. I winced as he touched my sting and we let go quickly. "Just... considering it."

"I think you should do it," Emma butted in again, redoing one of the streamers I hung up earlier that day. I gritted my teeth.

"Didn't ask for your opinion Emma," I shot back to her before I could stop myself. Emma paused in her work, shooting me a wide eyed look, and beside me Will jerked in surprise. Over at the snack counter Cleo and Rikki sharked a shocked glance and Lewis hunched further over his phone, no doubt pretending not to be listening.

Shame washed over me and I felt my cheeks burning. Where had that come from? "Emma-" I started.

Of course that was when Zane decided to knock on the door and walk in, wide fake smile in place.

"Hey," he said, slapping Will on the back. He paused to look around at everyone in the room, smile dropping. "What I'd miss?" he asked.

Emma's face went blank and she readjusted her ponytail before resetting her shoulders. "Nothing," she said, throwing Zane a quick smile. "Long time no see!"

With a laugh that surprised me, Zane came forward and wrapped Emma in a big hug. Of to the side I noticed Rikki look away, and Cleo put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Didn't think you'd ever come back," Zane said, breaking away. "Figured you'd found bigger and better places to live, having seen the world."

"Yeah well, some people have more loyalty then others don't they Zane," Rikki muttered. I think it was supposed to be under her breathe, but given how quiet the room was from _my _outburst earlier, it echoed nicely through the boathouse.

Zane took a step back in surprise. Behind him, I glanced at a window-covered, to hide the full moon. None of us have been moonstruck in ages, but we figured we'd take extra precautions just in case. But was the moon still getting to us somehow? The party hasn't even started and already we were at each other's throats.

"I'm sorry, should I have not have come?" Zane asked, voice surprisingly level. "Because if I remember right you were the one who begged me to attended this lame little get together..."

"Oh so its lame now is it?"

"Um, Lewis, maybe we should get some games going. I brought cards and movies too..." Cleo started, raising her voice to interrupt Rikki and Zane, trying to break the tension. Beside her at the table Lewis shot up, eyes wide as he stared down at his phone. "Lewis?"

"Sorry Cleo," her boyfriend muttered, throwing a distracted kiss on the top of her head. "I just got an email from one of my research professors. I never submitted my last paper. I have to run real fast."

"You're going?" Cleo said, standing as well. Lewis was already opening the door.

"My laptop is over at my brother's-I just need to go and submit the research I did before midnight. I promise I'll be back!" And slam goes the Lewis. Leaving a shocked looked Cleo in its wake. She sat down slowly, looking down at her hands and an awkward silence came over the group once again.

Beside me, Will coughed, and everyone looked at him. He opened his mouth to say something, paused, then closed it again. Everyone looked away.

Zane broke the silence, "so you _don't _want me here," he said, looking back at Rikki.

_Okay, mayday, damage control needed! _I thought panicked. _Cleo and Will tired. Time for round three. _We haven't even started doing anything yet. And all we've done is take turns having fights with one another. I glanced at Emma, prior words forgotten, and the two of us scrambled trying to think of something to say to stop this train wreck.

What Emma came up with didn't exactly help matters.

"I gave up my powers," Emma blurted out and everyone jerked their heads towards her.

_Well, at least Rikki and Zane aren't fighting. _


End file.
